Anyone lay their own concrete?
Hey FABO. I’m planning a 40x48 pole barn shop. The total amount was a little crazy so I’m looking for ways to save. The concrete alone was quoted at about 12k (includes forming, material, and labor). My math says it takes 21yd of concrete for a 4” slab. At $160/yd that’s about $3400 for the material. So over $8k in labor for a slab seems ridiculous. Is it really that hard? Anyone do this themselves?
Hey FABO. I’m planning a 40x48 pole barn shop. The total amount was a little crazy so I’m looking for ways to save. The concrete alone was quoted at about 12k (includes forming, material, and labor). My math says it takes 21yd of concrete for a 4” slab. At $160/yd that’s about $3400 for the material. So over $8k in labor for a slab seems ridiculous. Is it really that hard? Anyone do this themselves?
I am pete peterson, I have laid concrete, & the last one I did was about 40' x 30'. I don't tell people what to do, as is human nature it seems, but I would like to note one thing that I always do in buildings that I've found very satisfying. If you see any merit in what I did, would you consider doing it? I slope my cement 1" per 6' of run towards the doors in the place on one side. That allows my power washing the cement and the water always runs out of the building. In the areas inside the building where the cement dead ends at a wall I bury a 3" PVC pipe, drill holes thru the thin cement over it into it, & run it to the building's corner where I go underground & exit the building. If there's no slope outside, I just dig a hole & fill it with washed river rock. There's never much water to drain, ergo, there's no issue with volume of water. Friends, people, others (bro included) always want to make cement level. Well, fine if that's desired, but the nature of water is to puddle, ergo, the cement will stay wet a long time after water is applied. The other nice thing about a sloped pad is that the irregularities that inevitably happen when pouring\power troweling cement drain, also. Water is a creepy thing. It stands, wicks, etc., but I want mine to RUN! Also, I've owned 2 places where the previous guy did one of those, "slope it towards the building's center drain", things. Hate that. There are puddles everywhere due to irregularities in the cement after power washing, washing my truck in the winter, etc. lol Just my thoughts, experiences. Yeah, everything costs too much nowadays. You should see estimates for restoring my '64 Cuda! Do your thing, dogg... pete
